We examine the impact of major global companies in Switzerland and internationally, with a primary focus on key Swiss industries: pharma, healthcare, food, and agribusiness.
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Novartis announces billion-dollar investments in the US
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Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis plans to invest a total of $23 billion in the US over the next five years to expand production and research.
Trump presidency to test public trust in Big Pharma
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A second Trump presidency risks eroding public trust in the pharmaceutical industry if science, trade and public health are sidelined.
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Swiss pharma giant Roche is the latest company to refocus its R&D investment on diseases like obesity that weigh heavily on healthcare budgets.
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Sex and gender are rarely considered in drug development. There’s now a movement, including in Switzerland, to change this.
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Japan is increasingly being overlooked by international drugmakers when launching new medicine. Now, the government is fighting back.
Raw milk: regulatory loophole gives Swiss the freedom to skip pasteurisation
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The sale of raw milk is banned in some parts of the world but Switzerland counts on labelling and personal responsibility.
Cosmetic pesticides are making it to your apple. Is that a bad thing?
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Plant growth hormones are widely used in fruit cultivation to give consumers uniform, blemish-free products. But with little published research, the risks are as yet unknown.
Better latte than never: Swiss coffee industry joins forces to improve conditions of coffee growers
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A heterogenous alliance of Swiss traders, roasters, cafés, bureaucrats, academia and NGOs is trying to raise the sustainability bar across the entire industry.
Pesticide-free but not organic: Swiss offer alternative to wean agriculture off chemicals
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Getting farmers to switch to organic farming is hard. Could giving up pesticides while still being able to use synthetic fertilisers help them to make the transition?
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What is a multinational and which criteria makes it Swiss? Why are there so many in Switzerland, what’s their economic impact on the job market? Here’s a short video to answer these questions.
From bean to bar: global perspectives on Swiss chocolate
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Africa wants more time and money to comply with EU deforestation regulation
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African cocoa- and coffee- producing countries are racing against the clock to avoid being excluded from the European market. A proposal to delay implementation would give them more time to prepare.
Why Swiss chocolate makers can’t win the battle against child labour
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Swiss chocolate makers have committed to ending child labour in their supply chains by 2025. They will not succeed on their own.
Five things Africa can do to make the most of its cocoa
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West Africa produces 75% of the world’s cocoa beans and yet one-fifth of cocoa farmers in the region don’t even earn a living wage.
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Growing and exporting cocoa beans may be big business but it’s low-margin and volatile. Moving up the value chain could be more profitable and stable.
Can a West African cocoa cartel rise from the ashes?
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Ghana and Ivory Coast tried to raise cocoa bean prices but were derailed by the Covid-19 pandemic. They’re now trying to claw back lost ground.
How the humble cocoa bean gets turned into chocolate and money
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The chocolate supply chain has many intermediaries from bean to bar. Those at the bottom get the least but it doesn’t have to be this way.
How gold mining in Ghana is threatening Swiss chocolate
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As the world’s second-largest cocoa producer loses swathes of farmland to illegal gold mining, chocolate makers are waking up to the threat.
West Africa braces for tough sustainable cocoa rules in Europe
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Stricter sustainability rules could exclude West African cocoa from European markets. A cocoa farmers’ database in Ghana could be a game changer.
Swiss pharma reckons with its past, present and future
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This is the story of how making drugs helped turn a small, mountainous country into an industry titan, and what the pandemic means for its future.
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Vitol generated earnings of over $8bn in 2024, cementing its position as by far the most profitable energy trading house.
Nestlé’s French Perrier water licence under threat
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Nestlé may have to stop marketing French mineral water Perrier after using filtering methods illegal for natural mineral waters.
“No US tariff negotiations”: Swiss economics minister
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Switzerland has yet to enter formal tariff negotiations with the United States despite making contact with the administration.
Soaring cocoa prices hit Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut
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Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut suffered from soaring cocoa prices in the first half of the 2024-2025 financial year.
Nestlé Waters scandal: Élysée Palace ‘knew of misconduct’
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An inquiry revealed that the French presidency granted Swiss company Nestlé Waters access to ministries despite knowing about their misconduct.
Egg shortages force food industry to think outside the coop
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Culling of chickens due to bird flu and increasing demand has led to a spike in egg prices and given vegan alternatives something to crow about.
The vanilla connection – from Madagascar fields to Swiss flavors
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Why is vanilla so expensive? Our documentary follows the volatile journey of vanilla from the lush fields of Madagascar to Switzerland.
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
